The Preps : Arcadia's Lindsay Leaning Toward Learning

He is another in a long line of baseball prospects from Arcadia High School and another in an even longer line of prospects from high schools around the country faced with a tough decision: Cash or college.

Tim Lindsay, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound right-hander, is the top pitcher on one of the top teams in Southern California and last week he signed a letter of intent with UCLA. With a 5-0 record, two saves and an earned-run average of less than 1.00, he also figures to get some interest from the pros when the baseball draft is held during the first week of June.

Lindsay, however, is sold, for the most part, on college. Arcadia Coach John Meiers pointed out that everyone has a price, but Lindsay apparently has set his high enough that he doesn't plan to be swayed away from the Bruins when the time comes for a final decision.

"If someone offers me a lot of money, yeah, I'd be unsure what to do," he said Monday. "But I don't think they'll be giving many people that kind of money out of high school."

What kind is that kind?

Lindsay said that more than $100,000 could make it worth his while to leave family, friends and Southern California, not to mention a free education at a major university, for the far-away land of some rookie league.

Of course, being content comes easy with the type of season he is having. After finishing 1985 with a 3-2 record and a 2.30 earned-run average, he has been unbeatable this season for the No. 5 team in the Southern Section 4-A poll, pitching at a school that counts Steve Kemp, Bruce Bochte and Dave Hostetler among its alumni.

Saturday, he pitched two innings of no-hit relief to save the championship game of the El Segundo tournament, one of the best in Southern California, for starter Mark Juas. That gave Juas, also a senior, a 5-1 record, and he or Lindsay will be pitching for the Apaches in today's 3 p.m. game at Hoover of Glendale. Arcadia has a 14-3 overall record and and a 7-0 mark in the Pacific League.

"(Lindsay) has good control and a big league curveball," Meiers said. "He's very similar at this stage to a guy named Mike Witt. Witt (pitching for Anaheim Servite) beat us in 1978 at Anaheim Stadium for the CIF championship. That's how I remember him. Not overpowering, but a good curveball. And both are big, tall right-handers."

T time: The National Federation's Basketball Rules Committee has made two additions to the controversial 10-5 rule, which requires coaches to remain seated on the bench during play or be hit with a technical foul.

Beginning next season, "coaches may rise from the bench to acknowledge a replaced player. This would occur normally at the end of the game when a coach rises to shake the hand of a starter who has been withdrawn from the game."

A coach also will be able to confer with officials at the scorer's table regarding an error in timing, possession or scoring, but if an error is not prevented or corrected, the team will be charged with a timeout.

Opinion: A referee who needs the 10-5 rule to maintain control of a high school game should not be on the court in the first place. Besides, the rule is enforced with varying degrees and too often a coach does not know what to expect. At least some have learned to expect surprises.

During the final week of the season, for instance, Gary McKnight of Santa Ana Mater Dei stomped out near midcourt to yell at an official in the Southern Regional championship game at the Sports Arena, but he was not penalized. Mike Lowe of Hacienda Heights Wilson, on the other hand, was silent and leaning on one knee directly in front of his chair during the State Division II game in Oakland and was whistled for a technical.

"If (the referee) is that much tuned in to what I'm doing on the bench, then he's not watching much of the game," Lowe said.

With all but a few of the major prospects committed, Gibbons, who publishes All Star Sports in Lenoir, N.C., has Syracuse second, followed by Illinois, Michigan and Kansas for the top five. UCLA, which signed three California prospects in November is among the top 12.

Those rankings could change when forward Stacey Augmon of Pasadena Muir makes his decision. Augmon is said to still be considering Nevada Las Vegas and Kansas, and the Jayhawks could move past Michigan if they get him, Gibbons said.

Jerry Tarkanian of UNLV and Larry Brown of Kansas were among the many college coaches who watched the City beat Augmon and the Southern Section, 98-96, in an all-star game Sunday night at Cal State Long Beach.